Until the End
by hcsp1
Summary: Riley is now ninety-five years old and is hospitalized due to a sickness. Her emotions are all over the place, hoping that she will survive the event. Rated T for the subject of death being touched upon.


**It's that time again. That time when you see a new movie and you want to write something about it. In the case of "Inside Out" I had two ideas for a story, and I decided to do this one first because it was shorter and less complicated(I will do the other one... sometime in the future). So here we are!**

 **Note: In case you didn't understand from the descreption; this isn't going to be a fun and happy one-shot. Looking for one of those? You won't find it here. Might as well give a heads up. I hope those of you who do read the story will enjoy it! Feedback is always appreciated!**

* * *

Riley Anderson was your common teenage girl. She was mostly upbeat and fun to be around, but she also had her moments of being scared, disgusted, angry and sad; like every other human being.

Her feelings were being controlled by a group of emotions living inside her head. Her emotions were consisted of the firebrick looking Anger, the broccoli resembling Disgust, the raw-nerve that was Fear, the teardrop which was Sadness and the star of the show, Joy.

For years, these five emotions accompanied Riley wherever she went. Anger made sure things turned out fairly for her, Disgust took charge in making Riley avoid poisoning in both physical and social aspects, Fear was doing his best to make sure Riley was safe from the many dangers the world contains, Sadness was there for the moments Riley needed to let go of everything; and Joy's job was keeping Riley the happy-go-lucky girl she was known to be.

Ever since her birth they controlled her thoughts and organized her memories. Even though each emotion had a different role in Riley's head, they all had the same main goal; making sure Riley would lead a good life. The emotions loved Riley and they did everything in their power to make sure the mission would be completed successfully. Day by day, month by month, year by year; they never stopped. For all they knew, they will take care of Riley to the best of their abilities forever.

But what they didn't know was that forever was a time period that did arrive at one point, even if it was unexpected…

* * *

The ambulance alarm was dying down as the stretcher was being pushed through the hospital doors. Four doctors were directing the old woman laying on it through the many corridors in order to get her to someone's care. The age the woman was in hinted that she might not survive this, but they at least had to try and save her.

Inside the woman's head the emotions were out of control, trying their best to work the control panel which controlled her feelings. They couldn't see anything as the woman had her eyes closed, and it didn't look like their constant struggle with the controls helped much, if at all.

"I can't believe it!" Fear screamed while grabbing his own head with his hands while running around the headquarters. "Blackouts and faints lead humans into hospitals! We are NOT going into a hospital! I'm not allowing Riley to be in a hospital!" He declared. "I've worked way too hard to keep her safe, she doesn't need a hospital!"

"Ugh! Relax, Fear." Disgust sighed at how overly paranoid Fear could have been sometimes. "She's ninety-five years old. It's common for people her age to go into a hospital and most of them come out okay." She was optimistic that the elderly Riley will get out of this situation alive and well.

"If those good for nothing doctors know what they're doing that is." Anger muttered loudly. "These jokesters can't even realize we exist despite researching the human brain for years!"

"Anger has a point." Sadness said. "What if the doctors can't get Riley out of this? What if she'll…?"

"Whoa! Whoa there, Sadness!" Joy stopped the blue emotion from saying the last word. "I know we're all allowed to think… not so happy thoughts every now and again. But, I don't think we need to go that far." Riley's main emotion tried to spread her optimism to her companions. "One blackout, even at this age, is something a person can get out of, espacially when it's the first one she had throughout all of her life. We've seen some of Riley's friends pass out every once in a while, right?"

"Yeah, because they were weak." Anger confirmed while also stating his opinion on Riley's friends.

"Exactly!" Joy turned to Anger with the same big smile she had on her face for more than nine decades. "Riley is a strong girl... well, woman! She will get out of this with no problems!" Joy crossed her arms, believing she had convinced her crew everything was going to be alright.

"Umm… not that I don't think you're right, Joy." Fear started to talk. "But I think what Anger was trying to say is that Riley's old now; and when a person gets older his body becomes weaker as well."

"She may have a strong spirit," Disgust joined the discussion. "but it won't help if her body is not as active and healthy as it was when she was younger."

Suddenly, Joy realized the other emotions were probably right. Her eyes went wide with understanding that Riley might not get out of the hospital.

Time after the conversation has ended passed by slowly, as no one was sure how the situation they were in was going to end. Each emotion was deep in its thoughts, waiting for some hint regarding Riley's state.

All of the sudden, the black screen in the headquarters was replaced with a different picture, meaning Riley has opened her eyes and woke up. "Guys, it's Joey!" Sadness alerted the other emotions to the fact Riley was up and was looking at a man who was in his forties. As the rest of the emotions made their way to the control panel, Sadness pressed the main button on it alongside Joy, causing Riley to cry with happiness as she saw her son came to visit and take care of her.

Riley and Joey talked for some time, the emotions watching the entire conversation in order to make sure Riley was responding accordingly. When Riley got older and older, a new control panel had to be built in order to contain all the functionalities she'll need. As it got larger and larger, it has taken the emotions a bit longer to decide what they should activate at what moment, thus causing a bit of a delayed reaction on Riley's part; but they still managed to make her talk appropriately in any situation.

A few minutes into the conversation, a doctor entered the room and told Riley that she will be alright, but she still needs to stay in the hospital for a few days for checking.

"In those ugly hospital cloths!?" Disgust responded first, clearly un-happy with the idea of Riley sleeping in a hospital.

"She said she will be alright. That's good; it means there's no danger." Fear calmed himself in regards to Riley's health.

"See? I told you guys she will be alright!" Joy reacted happily to the news. "In a few days, Riley will be out of here!"

* * *

Days in the hospital came and went for Riley, and of course her emotions. Anger was displeased with her staying in bed and not being able to move. There was nothing to look at as well expect for the celling and one or two corners of the room, making the red emotion impatient regarding leaving the establishment. Fear was passing the time by thinking about what will the doctors say about Riley's condition, mentally preparing himself for the option of a surgery. Disgust had a bit more to do during Riley's time in the hospital, making her react to the awful food which was served to her.

Sadness had nothing to do outside of pondering what will happen. She did made Riley cry when her grandchildren and old friends came to visit, both because of her getting emotional and because Riley wasn't a fan of people seeing her in a weak state; a personality trait which was provided to her by Disgust as the years went by. Joy did help her through the conversations with said people by keeping Riley mostly optimistic.

After a week in the hospital, Riley started to feel bad. When the doctors checked on her, they told her she was suffering from Pneumonia and that she should stay in the hospital for a little while longer until she'll get better.

The announcement wasn't received well by the emotions. Fear was once again panicking over the idea of Riley being sick and Disgust was trying to think if something Riley ate was in fact poisons and escaped her radar.

"Hey, guys?" Joy said. "Remember what we said when Riley got here? She's strong and she will…"

"No, Joy!" Anger suddenly exploded. "She's not strong in a sense that she can beat a disease, even a simple one like Pneumonia! Why can't you understand that this is done!? Riley has become weak because of her age and there's nothing we can do about it!" He said before turning away from the rest of the emotions, and heading towards one of the corners of Riley's head. It was obvious he didn't want to say what he just said, but at the same time he knew these were the facts and that there was no reason to argue with them.

Fear and Disgust had nothing to add to the conversation as Anger already said everything that was needed to be said. They turned away from Joy as well and each of them headed in a different direction.

"Where are you going?" Joy asked. It was obvious they weren't actually going anywhere, as they were all inside Riley's head, but Joy figured out that they splitting in different directions meant that they knew the worst was coming. "Guys, come on! We have to be there for Riley!" Right now, Joy was getting desperate to the point she fell to her knees. "We promised we will be there for her until the end!"

When no one was answering to what she had just said, Joy faced down and closed her eyes in despair. She had no idea what to do. She was supposed to bring happiness and optimism to Riley, yet here she was, starting to think about the worst case scenario. Joy, the form of happiness, started to think that this might actually be the end.

"You know?" Sadness suddenly showed up behind Joy, putting her hand on her shoulder. "While reading through the Mind Manuals one day, I came across a segment on what will happen if a person dies." She started to tell Joy, who at this point was covering her face with her hands. "It says that if a person dies a natural death, the process of death is exactly like the process of birth only in reverse. If the person was killed by an un-natural event, his or her headquarters just disappear without giving their emotions time to process what happened."

"Sadness, I know that you're trying to make me feel better in your own way." Joy cut Sadness's speech. "But how is this supposed to help me when the girl I've sworn to take care of is about to die?"

"Because it's a natural death." Sadness simply said, causing Joy to look at her with wide eyes. "Riley wasn't killed in an accident or murdered. She'll most likely pass away from a sickness which we couldn't do anything about. You have done everything in your power to make sure Riley would live a happy life. Every person is supposed to die eventually; at least Riley got to live a long life filled with happy memories you created." Sadness continued to speak monotony as she explained what she had read. "You've taken care of her to the best you could ever since she was born. You traveled all through her long term memory and escaped her memory dump so you could help her get through a rough time. Riley dying naturally at such and old age only means you took great care of her throughout all of her life."

After hearing Sadness's speech, Joy broke down crying. Thinking she had made the situation worse, Sadness felt bad for what she has done and started to walk away. Suddenly, Joy grabbed Sadness and hugged her tight. "Thank you, Sadness." She said, making the blue emotion hug her back and even shed a few tears on her own. Soon after, Fear, Disgust and Anger came over and joined the hug. After each one heard Sadness's explanation regarding death, they all realized that they did do their job to the best they could, and it was only fair to support the main emotion who made it all possible.

Suddenly, the light in the headquarters blacked out and the only visible light came from the screen which was Riley's eyes. The emotions broke their group hug and headed towards the console, seeing Riley turning to her side to see that the heart monitor beside her bed had started beeping in a slower pace than before.

Fear, afraid he knew what that meant, attempted to press the main button on the control panel in order to trigger a scared reaction from Riley, but Joy stopped him. Everyone looked at Joy with shock, not believing she stopped Fear from triggering a reaction which might alarm a doctor who could help.

"We said we will take care of our little girl until the end." Joy stated, looking at the screen decidedly. "I guess that end is arriving now."

All the sudden, without anyone's command, Riley's core memories showed up and started playing in the order of their creation. The emotions watched as memories of Riley as a baby, and then a toddler, then a kid, teenager, adult and so on played out, recognizing everything that happened, when it happened exactly and what were the circumstances for it happening.

When the memory showing the birth of Riley's first grandchild appeared, the emotions looked at each other and smiled, realizing that the end was near. All of them proceeded to touch the pad one more time, creating a memory that was a combination of all five emotions. Joy for the overall good life Riley led, Sadness and Anger that they had to end, Disgust by the fact everyone had to grow old and pass away, Fear for the unknown facts about the realm beyond death. A ball colored in all five colors, representing all five emotions, then showed up at the headquarters and took its place where the other core memories once were.

As the monitor started beeping less frequently, the old Riley started to slowly close her eyes. Slowly, the headquarters started to lose light and it was getting darker and darker the more Riley closed her eyes.

The islands of personality were no longer visible; all the memories which were created on that day were no longer there; the core memories stopped playing and all that was left inside of Riley's head were the control panel, the last colorful memory and her emotions.

All of the emotions held hands, wanting to finish their mission together. When the headquarters became really dark, some of them started to disappear. The first to vanish was Anger, after him went Disgust; Fear was the next to disappear, followed by Sadness. Joy was the last one left, just as she was the first to appear. She kept looking at the slowly closing screen. The almost complete darkness, which grew more and more as the last memory and the light it provided started vanishing as well, made her realize that her time with Riley was indeed coming to an end.

"Goodbye, Riley"

The monitor stopped beeping

THE END

* * *

 **To those whom this is the first story of mine they read, I'm not always that angsty and dramatic. I just had this idea that we see how emotions are being created alongside the person's birth, so what happens when the person dies? I had to get that idea out of my head and I hope this paid off and you guys liked it despite the dramatic tone.**

 **Thanks for reading and leave a review if you got something to say! Feedback can never hurt!**


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